Piada

For a fast, great value yet satisfying lunch by Smithfield, it’s hard to beat Piada. The queues can go out of the door sometimes and I’m there relatively frequently. The name refers to some kind of flatbread, piadine, which they do in the style of common-or-garden wraps.

But the two main crowd-pullers are the pastas and the salads. For £6 they have two daily, changing pasta dishes which can vary depending on what they have fresh that day, but are often simple tomato based sauces with perhaps a big dollop of burrata, or rocket and chilli flakes, or maybe arrabbiata.

The salads are impressive too (also about £6) – they do a mean caprese, or a bresaola salad with piles of fresh rocket, parmesan, balsamic glaze and tomatoes, or even a warm creamy slab of goats cheese with spinach and sundried tomatoes, all with some flatbreads on the side to mop it up with.

The staff are real Italians and extremely friendly, it’s quick and really quite tasty considering the slight ‘lunch rush assembly line’ feel. 

Food – 7/10
Drink – 6/10
Service - 7/10
Value – 8/10
Tap water tales – 7/10 (was brought one unprompted once, paper cup though)  
Staff Hotness – 5/10 (usually too famished to notice, very nice though)